The invention relates generally to laser hybrid welding systems, and, more particularly, to controllers for laser hybrid welding systems.
Welding is a process that has become increasingly ubiquitous in various industries and applications. A variety of welding techniques have been developed that seek to provide fast welding capabilities with adequate penetration and gap bridgeability. While laser beam welding provides speed and deep penetration benefits, such a welding process typically requires tight joint fitup for the laser beam to adequately bridge the gap between the workpieces. Arc welding processes, on the other hand, typically provide for welding more slowly than laser-beam processes, but are capable of bridging much larger gaps than laser-beams. As such, a variety of hybrid welding techniques have been developed that combine laser-beam welding with arc welding processes, such as gas metal arc welding (GMAW). This type of welding process typically aims a laser beam at a location where a weld joint is to be formed, and follows it closely, typically via the same, hybrid welding torch, with a more conventional shielded arc for additional fusion and filler metal deposition.
While hybrid welding processes provide good bridgeability at high speeds, such processes are often associated with drawbacks, such as intolerability of gaps in the joint. These drawbacks often reduce or eliminate the applicability of laser hybrid welding to a variety of applications, such as pipelines, ship building, and automotive manufacturing. Some advances, such as beam width increasing systems, have been made to improve the gap filling associated with laser hybrid welding. However, laser hybrid welding still poses challenges surrounding gap filling since penetration cannot be adequately controlled when gaps occur in the weld. Accordingly, there exists a need for systems that address these limitations of laser hybrid welding.